Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi, > the difference being that the *electronic* computer required a genuine > paradigm shift (newtonian -> quantum mechanics) in physics, computers are independent of the materials they're built from - they don't have to be electronic. We could build a perfectly valid computer out of Sumerian cuneiform tablets. They are almost entirely the product of a single 20th-century mind - Alan Turing. To this extent computers are a pure product of the 20th century, Jacquard, Leibniz, Babbage et al. notwithstanding. Emil Post arrived independently & simultaneously at the idea of what we now call a Turing machine. http://www.turing.org.uk/ http://www.abelard.org/turpap2/tp2-ie.asp It's fortunate (or not, depending on your point of view) that his idea arrived at a time when such a machine could be built and be practical, but it doesn't _have_ to be electronic, or baked mud, or grey-matter. Here's an interesting question: did the people who thought up the name and logo of Apple Computer know that Turing committed suicide by taking a bite out of an apple laced with cyanide? - --- Bob mailto:bob@web-options.com Friday, June 29, 2001, 6:13:23 PM, you wrote: > on 6/29/01 12:37 PM, Barney Quinn, Jr. at barney@ncep.noaa.gov wrote: >> Johnny, >> >> You're right, of course. But, here's an example of how it works. Probably >> seven out >> of ten contestants in this game start talking about computers because they >> have just >> leapt to the conclusion that computers HAVE to be a pure product of the 20th >> century. Not a good play. We counter by asking about the Jacquard loom (18th >> Century >> ), punch cards, and so forth. > the difference being that the *electronic* computer required a genuine > paradigm shift (newtonian -> quantum mechanics) in physics, whereas most > other technologies (automobile, airplane etc) were more or less > sophisticated versions of 19th century inventions. > just as the steam train (and photography) arose from 18th century thinking.